Tim Bontemps, ESPN
The NBA announced on Aug. 15 its schedule for the group stage of the inaugural in-season tournament, which will see the winning team earn the NBA Cup and its players $500,000 each.
The tournament — whose final will be on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas — will see each NBA team play a four-game group stage in November, with the group winners advancing to the knockout rounds.
Two teams, the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers, have already clinched their spots in the quarterfinals, which will take place Dec. 4 and 5. Six more teams will join them after the final two days of group stage games.
So what, exactly, is the NBA Cup? How will the tournament work? Why is it happening? What is the NBA hoping to get out of it?
Jump to a section
Friday | Projections | FAQ | Full Schedule
Friday sees upsets, spoilers ahead of final day of group stage play
The sixth day of group stage play of the in-season tournament Friday saw plenty of chaos across the league, with a series of upsets setting the stage for some very unlikely possibilities of who could make it to the quarterfinals on Dec. 4 and 5.
Here’s a look at how the various matchups played out across each of the six groups and where they leave things heading into the final day of group stage games Tuesday:
East Group A
By beating the Detroit Pistons in Indianapolis Friday night, the Indiana Pacers won the group and guaranteed themselves one of the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the tournament.
Whether the Pacers, who finished with a 4-0 record and a point differential of plus-39, finish with the top seed or the second seed will be determined by whether or not the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Miami Heat on Tuesday in East Group B action. If the Bucks win, they’ll be the top seed, and Indiana will be second. If the Heat win, Indiana will be the top seed.
East Group B
Down 16 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the New York Knicks shocked the Heat Friday, winning 100-98 to keep their hopes of advancing in the tournament alive.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
“Honestly, a fan looked me in the eye over here and said this was embarrassing, so I would say him,” Knicks guard Jalen Brunson told ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth when asked how things turned around in the fourth quarter.
With the win, the Knicks improved to 2-1 in group play and posted a point differential of plus-18 — which will play a factor in whether the Knicks win the group or advance as the East’s wild-card recipient after Tuesday’s final round of games.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, escaped with a 121-118 win over the Washington Wizards to improve to 3-0 in group stage play, and setting up the following set of scenarios for how Tuesday’s games (Knicks vs. Charlotte Hornets, Bucks-Heat) can play out:
-
Bucks win, Knicks win: Milwaukee wins the group and gets the top seed, while the Knicks have a chance to be the wild-card team depending on point differential. The Heat are eliminated.
-
Bucks win, Knicks lose: Milwaukee wins the group and the Heat are eliminated. Knicks are eliminated if either the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets or Cleveland Cavaliers win Tuesday.
-
Heat win, Knicks win: Milwaukee, New York and Miami will all tie, with the deadlock being broken by point differential. In that scenario, the Heat will have to beat the Bucks by at least 8 points more than the Knicks beat the Hornets to finish second in the group and have a shot at winning a wild card.
East Group C
The Orlando Magic became the latest team to play spoiler by claiming a 113-96 victory over the East-leading Boston Celtics.
With the victory, Orlando moved to 3-1 in group play, securing a critical head-to-head tiebreaker over Boston and setting up a potentially complicated set of circumstances on Tuesday.
Orlando, which has a point differential of plus-22 after Friday’s win, will claim Group C if the Brooklyn Nets lose to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday or the Celtics win by 22 or fewer points and the Nets to win by 13 or fewer points.
For Boston to win Group C, the following things will need to happen Tuesday:
-
Boston will need to beat the Chicago Bulls at home by at least 23 points.
-
Brooklyn will need to beat Toronto at home.
-
Brooklyn will need to win that game by a margin of 15 or fewer points than Boston’s margin of victory.
For example, if Boston beats Chicago 100-70, Brooklyn would have to beat Toronto by a margin of 22 points or less for the Celtics to win the group.
For Brooklyn to win Group C, it needs to win and Boston to lose or win by at least 15 points against Toronto and by within 8 fewer points than Boston’s margin of victory.
The one thing Orlando’s win did guarantee is that the Pacers (due to their win over the Pistons) will host a quarterfinal for a chance to advance to the semifinals in Las Vegas.
West Group A
The Phoenix Suns cruised to a 110-89 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in their final group stage game, improving to 3-1 and going a long way toward securing the wild-card spot in the quarterfinals.
Phoenix finished group play with a plus-34 point differential, putting itself in a solid position to secure the West’s lone wild-card spot.
And, because the wild card will play the top seed in the quarterfinals, Phoenix would all but certainly have a rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers in the quarterfinals on Dec. 4 or 5. Given the Lakers already have gone 4-0 in group play and have a point differential of plus-74, the only way the Lakers won’t finish as the top seed is if Sacramento (currently plus-29) win their game against Golden State on Tuesday by at least 46 points.
West Group B
The Houston Rockets stunned the Denver Nuggets Friday in an 105-86 home victory that completely upended the group.
With the win, Houston eliminated Denver from advancing to the quarterfinals, and the Rockets will have a chance to clinch the group with a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in their final group stage game.
If Houston loses, the New Orleans Pelicans will win the group. That’s because the Pelicans improved to 3-1 Friday night with a 112-102 win over the LA Clippers. However, because the Pelicans won by 10 instead of 12, they did not put themselves in front of the Suns for a wild-card spot — which is why their hopes of advancing come down to the Rockets losing to Dallas.
West Group C
The Sacramento Kings took control of the group with a 124-111 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With the win, Sacramento moved to 3-0 and will have a chance to clinch the group — and a home game in the quarterfinals — with a victory in their final group stage game against the Golden State Warriors, who kept their hopes alive by beating the San Antonio Spurs 118-112 Friday night.
Heading into the final group stage games, the Kings have a plus-29 point differential, the Warriors a plus-5 and the Timberwolves minus-3.
That sets up the following scenarios:
-
If Sacramento beats Golden State, it wins the group and clinches a home game in the quarterfinals.
-
If Golden State beats Sacramento and Minnesota loses to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State captures the group and Sacramento is eliminated.
-
If Golden State and Minnesota win, it sets up a three-way tie between the Warriors, Kings and Timberwolves, meaning the deadlock will be broken by point differential. In that scenario, Golden State will have to win by at least 13 points to guarantee it finishes ahead of the Kings and Minnesota will need to defeat the Thunder by at least 8 more points than the Warriors beat the Kings to have a chance of winning the group and advancing to the quarterfinals.
Friday’s games
Magic 113, Celtics, 96
Suns 110, Grizzlies 89
Knicks 100, Heat 98
Raptors 121, Bulls 108
Pacers 136, Pistons 113
Rockets 105, Nuggets 86
Bucks 131, Wizards 128
Kings 124, Timberwolves 111
Warriors 118, Spurs 112
Pelicans 116, Clippers 106
NBA in-season tournament standings
Latest news
• Bontemps: Tournament provides added incentive for Haliburton, Pacers
• 309 total points! Pacers clinch first-ever QF spot in high scoring win over Hawks
• LeBron James passes 39,000-point mark as Lakers advance to knockouts
• Green, Thompson, McDaniels ejected in Wolves-Warriors fight
• Myles Turner’s dunk kicks off first NBA in-season tournament
• Sources: Coaches to get paid for advancing in NBA in-season tournament
• Lowe: How the bold new NBA in-season tournament courts came to fruition
• NBA goes Hollywood to promote in-season tournament
Projections
ESPN Analytics projects which teams will make it to the knockout phase of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.
EAST A
EAST B
EAST C
WEST A
WEST B
WEST C
Through games of Nov. 24
FAQ
Why is this happening?
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has wanted to implement it for years, for a variety of reasons. Much like the play-in games, though, it took a long time for him to convince everyone involved to give it a shot.
The first hope, obviously, is that it generates revenue. The NBA believes the in-season tournament can become a significant moneymaking franchise over time because of the ability to sell its television rights — as it did with the WNBA’s version of the event.
The other hope is to draw more eyeballs to the league. The stretch of time the tournament is set within — from the start of November through the first week of December — might be the most irrelevant part of the NBA schedule.
It’s after the initial rush of the season starting, and alongside the college football and NFL regular seasons. If this tournament can bring more attention to the sport during its least relevant time of the year, it will be seen as a victory.
What is the format?
Silver has long been fascinated with European soccer, and the basis for the NBA’s in-season tournament lies in the cup tournaments across Europe. In those leagues, there is a regular-season championship, determined by the team with the most points over the full year, and then a separate tournament (or, in some leagues, multiple tournaments) that runs concurrently with the league season.
Unlike European soccer tournaments, though, which all are played outside of the league schedule, the NBA Cup is built into the NBA’s regular-season schedule. The 30 teams were split up into six five-team groups.
The four group stage games will be played on seven November dates: four Fridays (Nov. 3, 10, 17 and 24) and three Tuesdays (Nov. 14, 21 and 28).
The quarterfinals will be played Dec. 4 and 5 at the higher-seeded team, and the semifinals and championship game will be Dec. 7 and 9 in Las Vegas.
How will this impact the regular-season schedule and standings?
Typically, the NBA sends out a full 82-game schedule in mid-August. This year, though, the league only sent 80 games, with a gap in the schedule from Dec. 3-10. Each team’s final two regular-season games will be determined by how the in-season tournament plays out.
The 22 teams that fail to qualify for the knockout rounds of the in-season tournament will have their final two games scheduled — one at home and one on the road — on Dec. 6 and 8 against other teams eliminated in the group stage.
The East teams that lose in the quarterfinals and the West teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play each other on Dec. 7. The teams that lose in the semifinals in Las Vegas will have played their full allotment of 82 games, while the teams that reach the championship game will actually wind up playing 83 games — with the championship game not counting toward the regular-season standings.
Why does the NBA Cup include regular-season games?
Before its launch, one of the biggest questions surrounding the in-season tournament was why any team would be incentivized to compete in it. By making it part of the regular-season schedule, and making every game count toward the regular season — very important from a playoff tiebreaker standpoint — the NBA created a situation in which it is in teams’ interest to win these games.
If this had been set up like the cup tournaments in European soccer, there would’ve been nothing stopping NBA teams from opting out literally or figuratively, sitting all of their top players and getting extra rest time. Under this system, though, they’ll have every incentive to play and win.
What teams make up the groups?
To create the groups — which were separated by conferences — the NBA put all 15 teams in each conference into five pots, separated by their finish in last season’s standings. So: Pot 1 included the teams that finished 1-3 in regular-season record, teams 4-6 went into Pot 2, teams 7-9 in Pot 3, teams 10-12 in Pot 4 and teams 13-15 in Pot 5.
As a result, the following groups were drawn:
East Group A: Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons
East Group B: Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets
East Group C: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic
West Group A: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, LA Lakers, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers
West Group B: Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets
West Group C: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs
What do players get for winning?
The players on the winning team will each get $500,000, while the runners-up will get $200,000. The losing players of the semifinals will each get $100,000, and the losing players of the quarterfinals will each get $50,000.
Will anyone earn individual honors for their play in NBA Cup games?
There will be a Most Valuable Player award for the in-season tournament, as well as an all-tournament team.
Will this have any impact on the playoffs?
Not beyond the games being regular-season games that count in the standings. While there was some debate among league insiders about guaranteeing a playoff berth as a reward for winning the tournament, ultimately that idea — or any other to further incentivize teams — was not enacted. The only playoff impact will come from the wins and losses accrued throughout the tournament.
Why is it called the NBA Cup?
Because it’s easy enough to change. In the short term, the NBA has said it went with the most basic of titles for both the tournament and its trophy — the “in-season tournament” and “NBA Cup” — as a way to introduce the concept to fans. However, using such bland, nondescript names has another clear advantage: When the league looks to sell the naming rights to both, it’ll be an easier transition from an unremarkable name than one connected with a specific individual (such as the late David Stern, one possibility that had been floated before the tournament was officially unveiled).
In-season tournament scores and schedule
*All times are ET
Nov. 3
Pacers 121, Cavaliers 116
Bucks 110, Knicks 105
Heat 121, Wizards 114
Nets 109, Bulls 107
Trail Blazers 115, Grizzlies 113 (OT)
Nuggets 125, Mavericks 114
Warriors 141, Thunder 139
Nov. 10
76ers 114, Pistons 106
Hornets 124, Wizards 117
Celtics 121, Nets 107
Rockets 104, Pelicans 101
Jazz 127, Grizzlies 121
Timberwolves 117, Spurs 110
Mavericks 144, Clippers 129
Lakers 122, Suns 119
Kings 105, Thunder 98
Nov. 14
Pacers 132, 76ers 126
Hawks 126, Pistons 120
Heat 111, Hornets 105
Nets, 124, Magic 104
Pelicans 131, Mavericks 110
Thunder 123, Spurs 87
Nuggets 111, Clippers 108
Timberwolves 104, Warriors 101
Lakers 134, Grizzlies 107
Nov. 17
Bucks 130, Hornets 99
Knicks 120, Wizards 99
76ers 126, Hawks 116
Cavaliers 108, Pistons 100
Celtics 108, Raptors 105
Kings 129, Spurs 110
Magic 103, Bulls 97
Pelicans 115, Nuggets 110
Suns 131, Jazz 128
Lakers 107, Trail Blazers 95
Clippers 106, Rockets 100
Nov. 21
Magic 126, Raptors 107
Pacers 157, Hawks 152
Cavaliers 122, 76ers 119 (OT)
Suns 120, Trail Blazers 107
Lakers 131, Jazz 99
Friday
Magic 113, Celtics, 96
Suns 110, Grizzlies 89
Knicks 100, Heat 98
Raptors 121, Bulls 108
Pacers 136, Pistons 113
Rockets 105, Nuggets 86
Bucks 131, Wizards 128
Kings 124, Timberwolves 111
Warriors 118, Spurs 112
Pelicans 116, Clippers 106
Tuesday
Milwaukee vs. Miami | East B | 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Golden State vs. Sacramento | West C | 10 p.m. | TNT
Chicago vs. Boston | East C | 7:30 p.m.
Toronto vs. Brooklyn | East C | 7:30 p.m.
Atlanta vs. Cleveland | East A | 7:30 p.m.
Charlotte vs. New York | East B | 7:30 p.m.
Oklahoma City vs. Minnesota | West C | 7 p.m.
Houston vs. Dallas | West B | 8:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Dec. 4 | TBD | 7 or 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Dec. 4 | TBD | 9:30 or 10 p.m. | TNT
Dec. 5 | TBD | 7 or 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Dec. 5 | TBD | 9:30 or 10 p.m. | TNT
Semifinals
Dec. 7 | TBD | 5 p.m. | ESPN
Dec. 7 | TBD | 9 p.m. | TNT
Championship
Dec. 9 | TBD | 8:30 p.m. | ABC